Last week was a perfect installment for Clarkston as to why life isn't fair sometimes.
Saturday turned out to be same thing for Orchard Lake St. Mary's.
Clarkston supporters were livid all week last week at poor officiating decisions that they felt cost their team its state semifinal game against Sterling Heights Stevenson.
Whether or not they were right (Kosmo thinks they were), they got a lesson about how life isn't fair.
Players and supporters at Orchard Lake St. Mary's are probably thinking the same thing right now.
In Saturday's Division 3 state final against East Grand Rapids, the Eaglets had the game nearly won.
They had a 21-17 lead and forced East Grand Rapids into a fourth-and-13 from its own 43 with 2:49 remaining.
East Grand Rapids threw a pass that deflected off of the helmet of a St. Mary's player and popped up into the air, allowing just enough time for East Grand Rapids senior Kirk Spencer to make a diving catch for a first down at the St. Mary's 26.
With 1:14 left in the game, East Grand Rapids scored the game-winning touchdown. St. Mary's deserved to win the game with its play, but all but lost it on a fluke bounce.
But as Clarkston learned last week, sometimes life just isn't fair.

Kosmo was holed up in his cave in northern Oakland County all weekend, but obviously he could still hear all the fuss regarding the Clarkston-Sterling Heights Stevenson semifinal game on Saturday at Troy Athens.
It's all anyone has talked about ever since, so Kosmo thought he'd check out the final minutes of the game for himself.
A whole novel could be written on what Kosmo thinks, so he'll try and shorten it to a pair of points.
One, Clarkston has every reason to feel it got cheated. The officiating in that last minute was beyond awful.
Second, the officials never should've had the opportunity to swing the game.
Contrary to what Kosmo main spy Keith D. reported on Tuesday, and Keith himself asked Kosmo to apologize to people on his behalf over this, Clarkston fumbled on second down with 38 seconds left, not third.
Please though, don't get on Keith too much. He had to phone in a story on a tight deadline just to make sure something got into Sunday's paper. It's easy to get distracted on details when you're frantically trying to get an article in.
Anyway, because it was second down, Clarkston head coach Kurt Richardson should've ordered his team to take a knee. At the very worst, Clarkston could've punted with under 10 seconds remaining, which would've killed the remaining time.
There aren't many finer men and coaches in the county than Richardson, in Kosmo's opinion. He's done way more right than wrong over the years, but he probably should've taken the knee.
No, it was not a fumble by running back Dakota Bender. It was admirable and rightful that Richardson trusted his players by running a play. He was down, but again, don't count on high school officials to get it right.
It's a thankless job where they're noticed only if they screw up. Just like people ask media to take it easy on high school players because they're not professional or college players, the same rings true for officials.

Kosmo doesn't have a very good memory, but he does remember the last time two county teams met in a state football final. The year was 2003, when Rochester Adams recorded a 28-7 win over Birmingham Brother Rice in the Division 2 championship.
Your seer doesn't know why he gets this feeling, but he just has an inkling that there'll be another all-county final this year in Division 1.
Clarkston and Novi Detroit Catholic Central will win their semifinal games on Saturday.
There, Kosmo said it.
Given that, expect Holt and Sterling Heights Stevenson to play in the Division 1 final. Just kidding.
That could be the case, but Kosmo just feels the Wolves and Shamrocks will get it done. Catholic Central's vaunted defense will rebound after giving up an uncharacteristic 24 points to Canton last week, and Clarkston will somehow do enough to outlast the state's all-time passing leader, Stevenson quarterback Jason Fracassa.
Get ready everyone. It'll be Clarkston vs. Catholic Central at 1 p.m. next Saturday in the Division 1 final.
I think.

This is the third year of the court-mandated switch in the Michigan High School Athletic Association's seasons, which moved volleyball from winter to fall. Judging by what's taken place, it seems like the season switch has been the cure for what previously ailed Oakland County volleyball teams.
Before the switch, there had never been an area team win a state volleyball title and only four that had ever played for a state championship.
Also, there never seemed to be many teams that would head to the state's final four.
How things have changed.
In 2007, the first year of the switch, three area teams played for a state title, with Pontiac Notre Dame Prep winning it all in Class B.
Birmingham Marian advanced to its second straight Class A final last year (where it lost to Jenison), while there are three teams headed to the state semifinals on Thursday.
Birmingham Marian and Farmington Hills Mercy will meet in a Class A semifinal, meaning an area team will advance to a state final for the third straight year. Also going to Battle Creek is Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, which will play Pellston in a Class D semifinal.

At the beginning of the state football playoffs, Kosmo found it a little odd that four Catholic League teams earned berths in the state playoffs even though they had four losses.
Yes, the Catholic League was arguably the best in the Detroit are this year, but so many four-loss teams getting berths seemed a little excessive.
Well, maybe not now.
Three of those four teams, Orchard Lake St. Mary's, Birmingham Brother Rice and Warren De La Salle, have advanced to the state finals in their respective divisions.
They join Division 1 powerhouse Novi Detroit Catholic Central to make it four CHSL teams in the semifinals.
I guess it's obvious why those four-loss teams ammassed so many playoff points during the season that it got them into the playoffs.

Wednesday was national signing day for high school basketball players around the country, so Kosmo would like to congratulate all the local players who fulfilled dreams by signing to play at the next level.
In addition to that, Kosmo has heard from one of his spies about a commitment from one of the state's top junior girls basketball players.
Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes junior Lauren Robak has committed to play at Oakland University.
Her signing day won't be until next year, but it still is quite a catch for OU coach Beckie Francis.
Robak may play at a small school, but she's a big-time player

To those who say there's never any good news in the newspaper, Kosmo hopes people picked up Sunday's edition of the Oakland Press, because the sports section was nothing but good news as far as high school sports are concerned.
Birmingham Brother Rice played for a Division 1 state soccer championship on Saturday.
The Warriors won.
Birmingham Detroit Country Day played for a Division 3 state soccer championship.
The Yellowjackets won.
Novi Detroit Catholic Central was a dark horse to compete for a Division 1 boys cross country state title, but wasn't necessarily one of the favorites.
The Shamrocks won it all.
Not only that, but Rochester senior Megan Goethals set a state record by winning the Division 1 individual girls cross country title, and Troy senior Mike Atchoo won the individual Division 1 boys title.
As far as weekends go, it doesn't get any better than this.

Throughout the whole boys soccer state tournament, Kosmo was happy to see that the MHSAA was going to wait until after the state semifinals to see which finals sites, Troy Athens or East Kentwood, would host which divisions.
It was designed to see the geographical locations of the remaining schools, which Kosmo thought was a smart idea. Until last night.
Kosmo just simply doesn't get why the Division 3 state final between Birmingham Detroit Country Day and South Haven is being held at East Kentwood and why the Division 4 final between Hudsonville Freedom Baptist and Ann Arbor Greenhills is being held at Troy Athens.
It makes no sense.
South Haven is on the west side, while Country Day is on the east side. In that regard, one of those teams would have to suffer as far as the drive is concerned.
However, why make Freedom Baptist drive all they way to Athens? Greenhills is located a little closer to Athens than East Kentwood, but they're just about halfway between the two locations.
Given that, you have two schools making long drives, Country Day and Freedom Baptist. If you put the Division 3 game at Athens and the Division 4 game at East Kentwood, you only have one school making a long drive, South Haven. Since Country Day has gone out west seemingly every time it makes a final, it shouldn't be the ones having to drive again, particularly when the geography indicates the Division 3 game should be at Athens and the Division 4 game at Kentwood.

Today marks the start of the state volleyball tournament, and Kosmo has been glancing at the district pairings with keen interest.
Not necessarily because of some potential great games that could happen (Kosmo is intrigued by that though), but rather the timing of the games.
It used to be that volleyball districts would take place on one night. Teams would play semifinal games and then turn around and play district final games right after.
There are some districts like that, but there are others that play the district finals on separate nights, which Kosmo likes. It gets both teams rested so they can play their best match the following day or two days later. It also makes it easier for parents and other supporters who might not be able to make it on one night, but can make other games during the week. It just seems like it keeps kids sharper playing on multiple days throughout the week instead of one, another reason Kosmo likes seeing the games spread out.